In fiber optic connection schemes known prior to the invention set forth in copending, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,715, issued on Dec. 27, 1983, entitled "Fiber Optic Connector Having Fiber Cutting Means", field termination of optical fibers was attended by labor-intensive, separate attention to the phases of fiber preparation for termination, on the one hand, and fiber termination, on the other hand. In the former phase, such steps as fiber jacket stripping, end face cutting and polishing were customary steps. In the latter phase, the prepared fiber was typically placed in a housing and secured therein and that housing was manipulated relative to another housing having a termination device to be so placed therein that the fiber end face and termination device were accurately in registry.
In the referenced, commonly-assigned patent, there is disclosed a fiber optic connector or component in which a cutting device and a termination device are supported in fixed mutual relation, e.g., in a common housing. A companion housing provides for retentive engagement of the fiber. The housings are joinable in a first pre-cutting relation wherein the fiber spans the housings, are mutually movable into a second relation effecting fiber cutting and are further mutually movable into a third relation providing registry of the termination device and the termination end face resulting from the cutting. The apparatus comprised of the common and companion housings remains in place, constituting a connector. In its provision of a bridging method as between fiber preparation for termination and termination itself and apparatus for both cutting and terminating a fiber, the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,715 provides an evident lessening of labor intensity in fiber optic field termination.